technology

Google Cloud Print is very confusing, not ready for students

Posted on by Mark Isero

Several months ago, Google announced Google Cloud Print. I was excited: finally, a solution to my students’ printing woes!

You probably know what I’m talking about. My students, most of whom have computers and Internet at home, don’t have printers or ink. That means tons of excuses and a flurry of printing right before essay assignments are due.

Sure, I could go paperless. After all, our school uses Google Docs. But there’s something about a hard copy that tells students that this is their final draft.

A few years back, I tried PrinterShare, which promised free remote printing. I even recommended the service to a few students. Unfortunately, PrinterShare is no longer free.

That’s why I was so excited about Google Cloud Print.

Too bad GCP isn’t quite ready. Even though Google offers a support page, I’m still confused. Here’s why:

1. GCP doesn’t print from a lot of apps. You need to use Chrome. That’s fine. But then, in order to print a Google Doc, you need the Google Cloud print extension. But even after I installed the extension, I couldn’t print my document.

On my phone it’s no less confusing. Because I don’t have an Android phone, I’m told to go to m.google.com to find the appropriate mobile version of Docs. But then it turns out that I need a desktop version to print from my phone.

2. It’s not easy to set up a printer. First, you have to enable GCP on your Options in Chrome. That’s not so bad. But then you have to be logged into your Google profile at the computer to which your printer is connected. If your computer is off, or if you’re not logged in, your print job stays stuck in the queue.

Confused yet? Here’s another step: If you’re using Windows XP, which is all of the computers at my school, you need to download the Microsoft XML paper specification pack.

Note: Apparently, using a cloud-ready printer is much easier than a local one. But unfortunately, my school doesn’t have any yet and likely won’t for years to come.

3. It’s hard to explain to students. I can share my printer with my students (one by one), but then I have to explain to them how to print to it remotely. There are three ways to print a Google Doc: from the wrench, from the File menu, and from the printer icon. But will these work interchangeably? On my latest attempt, I didn’t see my GCP printer come up as one of the choices.

I’m happy that Google is trying to get printing into the cloud, and I’m sure they’ll get it right soon. But right now, it’s still too early to recommend Google Cloud Print to students.

reading/teaching

Some sample Articles of the Week

Posted on by Mark Isero

Kelly Gallagher’s Article of the Week is becoming more popular. I’m happy about that. After all, it was one of the most successful parts of my English 9 class last year.

Several people have asked me for more examples of my AoWs. So here are most of the ones I used last year. There are about 30 of them:

http://bit.ly/aows10-11.

Feel free to use them, modify them, get ideas from them, discard them.

You’ll see that some are “once-onlys,” like the article on Osama bin Laden’s death. Others are local to San Francisco or California. But in general, many are still usable this year.

Let me know what you think!

Also, I’m interested in finding out how you use AoWs in your class. I use AoWs as warm-ups, while Mr. Gallagher uses his for homework. How do you use yours? 

teaching

What’s unfair about AP English

Posted on by Mark Isero

Yesterday, my students finished up their study of The Metamorphosis with a thoughtful Socratic seminar. With no facilitation from me, they discussed symbols and themes in the work, and they impressed me with their level of analysis. It was abundantly clear they’d read and studied the book. They spoke confidently and intelligently; there’s no question they’re ready for a college-level discussion. And they took care of each other: They invited their shier peers to speak.

It made me proud and hopeful for our journey to come.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that just five miles away, there are richer, more privileged students who didn’t read the book, who didn’t work their butts off, who don’t much care about their peers. And these students, for the most part, will pass the AP test at a higher rate than my students.

How do I know this? Because it happens all the time. It’s part of the system. And it happened to me and my friends.

We still make jokes about it: about how we didn’t really read the books in AP English, about how we faked the discussions. We talk about our teacher, her low expectations, and her lack of organization.

And then we talk about how we all passed the test.

My students, on the other hand, will work like crazy (20-30 essays this year plus a 15-page theme study), and unless we pull off a “miracle,” the majority will fail.

The system of inequity, after all, is strong.

That’s why I’m devoted and dedicated to this class. I want my students to believe in themselves and believe that hard work does indeed pay off.

And when they do succeed — because despite the unfair reality, I do believe we can do this — by no means do I want a Stand and Deliver, Dead Poets Society, “O-Captain-My-Captain” moment. As my colleague says, This isn’t Freedom Writers.

There is no “miracle” here — just hard work — to brilliance. 

teaching

Student of the Week: Simple, fun way to build community

Posted on by Mark Isero

 Sometimes, I forget that school should be fun.

No, I’m not dour. It’s just that the frenetic energy of the classroom sometimes gets to me, makes me forget that levity and laughter lead to learning.

This year (so far), I’m building in more structures to keep things light.

One of them is Student of the Week. It’s really easy: Last Friday, I chose Esteffany as the first Student of the Week. She deserved it. Her peers cheered. I unveiled a student-decorated Burger King crown and made her wear it in a picture with me.

In previous years, that’s where Student of the Week ended. This year, here are the improvements:

1. The Student of the Week must wear the crown in class the following week,

2. The SoW is the facilitator for the week (e.g., timekeeping, collecting work, monitoring bathroom breaks),

3. The SoW chooses the next SoW,

4. The SoW writes a post on our classroom blog.

I’m pretty happy with the enhancements, and things are going well so far. Student of the Week is a simple, fun way to build community. It promotes academic pride, keeps the classroom lighthearted, and shares leadership roles among students.

Please let me know what you think — and ways I can make SoW better. 

technology

Technology in schools is not a panacea

Posted on by Mark Isero

 Yesterday, The New York Times ran an excellent article questioning technology’s impact on student achievement. Despite investing millions of dollars into technology, an Arizona district has found its test scores stagnant.

Writer Matt Richtel sums up what’s going on:

In a nutshell: schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning.

Richtel’s reporting is sound. He describes school leaders doing their best but making shortsighted purchases. He highlights that technology can distract as much as engage. And he emphasizes that having technology alone does nothing to improve learning; rather, teachers need to know what to do with it.

Still, even if technology does not directly lead to gains in test scores, I think it’s crucial to advocate for it in schools.

1. Schools should look like the world around them. There’s WiFi at McDonald’s and at the public library. Why not in most schools?

2. Schools should challenge the digital divide. One student owns a computer while another doesn’t. The first student is completing her homework more easily and suffers from less stress.

3. Schools should teach students how to use technology, to interact with information, and to be respectful online. This is also why we shouldn’t cut school librarians.

4. Teachers should be treated as professionals. And professionals have access to technology to do their job.

While technology is important, it’s important to invest in the right technology. SMART Boards, which do little to disrupt traditional teaching, are not the same as laptops. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean we have to get it.

But figuring out “the right technology” is not an easy puzzle. After all, what’s current one day is obsolete the next. By the time a school researches a product, puts in the order, and gets the equipment installed, the gadget is old. In addition, all devices have pros and cons. Kindles are great for English class, but they’re clunky for science. iPads look beautiful, but typing on them is horrible.

My school struggles with our very limited technology budget. Sometimes, I feel like we can’t get past fixing our current computers and printers. Maybe I should be happy that we have computers and printers in the first place.

Meanwhile, my students live in a scattered technology state. They’re comfortable on Facebook but have trouble fixing a printer jam. They snap pictures and listen to music but haven’t seen a library database. They text like crazy but balk at sending a professional e-mail.

Even if technology doesn’t mean higher test scores, there’s still a lot to learn from it.